Seatpost with damper: a good thing or just another marketing ploy?

Hardtail owners probably will not again faced with the problem of excessive rigidity of the frame. If the vibration on the steering wheel can still be cleared using gloves Grips and soft, then install large heavy saddle on the springs is not the best option. But to solve the problem of stiffness you can still use the seatpost with damper.

Standards: length and width

At first glance, the seatpost - very simple parts that do not have any properties, but it is not. The fact that the active skating podsedel feels quite heavy loads, so the pipe itself, and anchorage shall be designed so as to compensate for at least part of such loads.

Seatposts release of various diameters and lengths for all types of frames. They can also be classified according to purpose. Often, more than the expected load on podsedel, the greater its diameter.

Seatposts are made mostly from aluminum alloy 6061, but there are very strong from the 7xxx series or carbon. Among other things, carbon fiber is also good at damping vibrations, unlike metals, but it will be felt only for advanced riders. Those who just want to improve your bike and make the landing softer, can take advantage of seat post with shock absorber.

pins with integrated shock absorber

Unlike hard podsedelov have mounted a damping system. Seatposts with shock absorber are in great demand on the touring bikes where no important weight and high reliability. With this seat post can easily turn your hardtail in zapravsky dvuhpodves, with almost without losing weight and money. There are several types seatpost with damper:

Telescope. The design is quite simple and unreliable. Severed leg resembles an ordinary spring fork. Despite the adjustment, the spring prosyadet right under your weight and effective stroke is reduced.
parallelogram. Under the seat is a mechanism that operates on a system of levers and pushes central piston. The design is more advanced, better damping vibrations, not so much sags in the free state, significantly more expensive and unreliable as well as telescoping.

Adjust the seat post to the shock absorber is carried out by means of the hexagon. At the end plug is that during rotation adjusts the compression spring exactly the same as on the spring forks. But there are pins, which will set up and hands.

attachment types

Almost all used telescopic podsedely mount with one bolt hexagon, as in conventional systems, it is somewhat easier and simplifies the design.

As a rule, parallelogram seatposts with a shock absorber for a bicycle have a mount with a through bolt hexagon, which tightens the seat frame. Such a system is more reliable, since directly under the rails is a moving mechanism, and sticking out the bottom bolt slightly hampered its work.

Classic tube

Conventional hard seatposts are not only direct form, but also arched backwards at different angles. This helps to more precisely adjust the fit on the bike, exactly the same as with the removal of the wheel. Clamp is often compatible with multiple standards saddle rails. All seatposts have a diameter in the range 26-31, 8 mm and a length of 150-450 mm. Longer model suitable for tall people. Remember: the more the pin protrudes from the frame, the easier it is to break him and the seat tube of the frame.

How do I install?

Mounted this miracle of technology as well as a conventional pin and of the tools you will need only a allen 6 or 5 mm. It should be said that from the manufacturer of the frame pin and determines the final set of tools and the difficulty of the work.

For example, some podsedelov Compagnolo clamps are tightened with two screws hexagon 5 mm, and old-style bicycles, children's and today's cheapest steel pins common fixture in the form of a pin and a set of special toothed washers that are on both sides of the seat frame draw. On both sides of the construction contracted nuts 13 mm and WOCE not use bolts hexagon.

As such, the replacement instruction is as follows:

Slightly loosen the fastening of the seat frame until the pin is in the frame and firmly clamped.
Open the seatpost clamp and pull out the pin.
Remove the seat completely.
Take your seatpost with damper and set the saddle on him.
Adjust the spring rate at the end of podsedela.
Insert the pin in the frame, adjust the height, then tighten the eccentric.
Tighten the bolt that secures the seat.

Installing the seatpost with damper, as a means of cushioning in the seat should not be. Good effect, it does not provide, but once creak under the seat, plus a few grams of weight a bicycle and extra costs - easily.

And you need it?

Installing the seatpost with damper - is the addition of one more complex mechanical assembly in the wheel, and then you need to take care of him in the same way as, say, a fork. The design needs continuous bulkhead, lubrication, possibly even replacement springs.

It is not necessary to install the pins with a shock absorber, if your weight is over 100 kg. Though some of them are able to withstand such loads, long and accurate work you do not get. Reviews of seatpost with damper on the real owners of such devices do not differ calls for immediate purchase, and therefore, this system is not sufficiently reliable for active riding.